THEN & NOW

I try to avoid accusing record labels of "money grabbing" when they release music in inconvenient or expensive packages intended to milk fans of their hard-earned money. After all, record labels are profit-driven and they generally don't consider ethics; certainly in the 1990s, record companies were milking consumers at every turn. Neil Strauss, in a 1995 New York Times article, referred to a "$16.98 list price" for "most CD's by established stars," a cost he said was "more than 100 times the cost of the materials used to manufacture it." Most retailers would initially sell a $16.98 CD for less when it was new, but "in the next few months," the price of that CD "will creep up $2 to $6 at most ... stores." (US$17 in 1995 is equivalent to more than $27.50 in 2019, but brand new CDs retail for much less today.)

Anyway, Then & Now was a ripoff even by 1990s standards. The "mini-album" wasn't as commonplace as it had been in the early 1980s (in the US market, anyway), but the CD "maxi-single" was emerging. It seems likely that Geffen Records could've made a profit from this material without combining it with half of a greatest-hits package. Compounding this issue is the fact that the new material on Then & Now was substandard.

Side One (the Then side) is comprised of "Only Time Will Tell," "Heat of the Moment," and "Wildest Dreams" from Asia's self-titled 1982 debut, and "Don't Cry" and "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" from Alpha (1983). "Voice of America," from Astra (1985) is appended to the end of Side Two for some reason; I'm guessing that the reason was the group's inability to come up with a full side of new material. Another possibility is that, as an obscure song from a relatively poorly selling album, "Voice of America" might've snuck under the proverbial radar, appearing to be a new song.

Besides "Voice of America," the other four songs on the Now side were new recordings. The album's single, "Days Like These," was contributed by an outside songwriter - - a sign, perhaps, that Asia was hoping to target the same market as Bon Jovi or Aerosmith. Alas, there was very little room in this market by the summer of 1990, as grunge, "unplugged," and other modern/alternative rock genres were poised to deprive "classic rock" of much of its radio oxygen.

"Summer (Can't Last Too Long)" and "Am I in Love" are also pop-radio-friendly; only "Prayin' 4 a Miracle" (talk about a tone-deaf title!) sounds aimed specifically at AOR radio. "Prayin' 4" was written by lead singer and bassist John Wetton with Sue Shifrin (who had co-written hit singles for Heart, Tina Turner, and others). Also credited as a writer: Shifrin's then-husband, David Cassidy. Now don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong, in my book, with outside songwriters or with trying to write hit songs. But I'm pointing out that Asia was changing direction - - a direction for which the band was ill-suited. Interestingly, when Asia had a #4 pop hit in 1982 - - from the number-one pop album of the year - - they'd done it completely on their own. Pop fans came to them, not the other way around.

With questions about the band's line-up, and with no additional new material on the horizon from the band, Geffen appears to have cut their losses by releasing this dud before dropping Asia from the label.

Then & Now is a poor album for a number of reasons. To summarize: it's a full-priced album whose four new songs would only appeal to people who already own the other six. And not only is the album a bona-fide money-grab, the 17 minutes of new material is of low quality.

P.S.: Then & Now was rendered completely redundant with the release of Anthologia: The 20th Anniversary / Geffen Years Collection (1982-90), which collected Asia, Alpha, and Astra; the b-sides from this period, and the four tracks from Then & Now.

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